Pachall says that rehab stint has resulted in life changes

FORT WORTH — Getting another chance to play on TCU’s football team has provided a dramatic change in quarterback Casey Pachall’s life.

Pachall led the nation in pass efficiency last season before his DWI arrest led to a suspension and a three-month stint in rehab for what he said Wednesday was treatment for alcohol abuse.

“I’ve matured a lot,” Pachall said Wednesday at TCU’s media day before the start of fall camp. “Everything that has happened has really humbled me. Everything that’s happened has happened for a reason. I’m actually very grateful for it now.”

Wednesday’s meeting with the media was the first time that Pachall has met with the media since his arrest. Considering his recent selection by Big 12 media members as the conference’s No. 1 quarterback, his return will be crucial in the Horned Frogs’ hopes to contend for the conference championship.

Pachall directed the Horned Frogs to a 4-0 start last season before his arrest. He had admitted to police earlier last year that he smoked marijuana and failed a team-administered drug test.

Those problems carried over into last season, leading to his eventual arrest.

“I’m not going to go into any specifics on track,” Pachall said. “So far, coming back, getting on track, it’s having the right mentality coming fourth and doing the things people set forth for me so I do the right things. Also, how I act on and off the field that leads to future things.”

TCU coach Gary Patterson said Pachall had more steps than merely his rehab to return to the team.

“He wouldn’t have been back on the team if he hadn’t made the steps,” Patterson said. “If it was going to be about wins and losses, I wouldn’t have put him in rehab in the first place. He had steps with the university and with (TCU) campus life to get back.”

Patterson said he can tell a different approach from the senior from Brownwood as soon as he returned to the team.

“I think it’s changed him,” Patterson said. . “He has a much bigger support system. He went through changes of making himself different.”

Pachall, a 6-foot-5, 230-pounder, has a 15-2 career record as a starter. He finished the 2012 season with the highest career pass-efficiency rating of any returning starter with at least 15 career starts.

“We all hope it works out because it’s just a great example,” Patterson said.

“Instead of putting mud in the dyke and settling a short fix, we fixed something for the rest of his life. We tried to do what was right for him.”